As students and teachers return to the classroom, educators in elementary and high schools confront a range of issues in their efforts to provide effective lessons in a safe and comfortable environment: How do you reach students who speak little or no English? How do you prevent bullying? How do you assure gender equity? How do you handle bias against Muslims as we commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks?
Educating in an era of increasing diversity makes it crucial that all teachers understand the issues and options. Diversebooks.net offers many books that present important insights and a variety of views on topics. Here we highlight a few of them:
Bilingual Shakespeare, by Alex Fellowes, $25.20, List Price: $28, Trentham Books, November 2001, ISBN 9781858562476, pp. 140.
In a book targeted for teachers of English in secondary schools, especially those whose students are learning English as a second language, the author draws from decades of his experiences teaching students about Shakespeare. He shows how teachers can draw on the universal themes of the master’s work to engage and instruct a wide variety of students. The book outlines a bilingual approach to learning and performing Shakespeare to help expand students’ knowledge of English and to engage them through active participation.
Confronting Islamophobia in Educational Practice, by Barry Van Driel, $27.90 (List Price: $31, Trentham Books, December 2004, ISBN 9781858563404, pp. 160.
Contributing writers from the United States, Europe, Australia and Israel discuss educational practice surrounding the issues of increasing hostility toward Islamic people. The writers tell how schools, teachers, and students around the world are confronting this issue. The book also offers a theoretical and historical framework for understanding the fear of Islamic people and beliefs.
The Gender-Responsive School, by Catherine Atthill and Jyotsna Jha, $21.60 (List Price: $24), Commonwealth Secretariat, July 2009, ISBN 9781849290043, pp. 272.
